The High Risk Management Centre (commonly called the SuperMax) was opened in September 2001. This was the first such facility in Australia and makes the Centre the highest security prison in Australia.[1]

The Goulburn Correctional Centre is significant for the strength of its original radial plan centred on the chapel, and the strength of the spatial relationships created by the plan. It has a close relationship with Goulburn township. Both town and institution have grown together and are economically and socially interdependent. It has a recorded association with a number of famous and infamous characters. It is also significant because of the way its continous 110-year history of penal use is embodied in its physical fabric and documentary history.

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Goulburn's first lock-up was built around 1830 and gallows were built as early as 1832 when floggings were common.[3] The first Goulburn Gaol was proclaimed on 28 June 1847, attached to the local Courthouse. When the Controller of Prisons first reported to parliament in 1878 Goulburn Gaol had accommodation for 63 segregated and 127 associated prisoners, and held 66 prisoners; inclusive of one female.[4]

New premises were in the process of erection in 1881 as part of a scheme to 'bring the Colony from its backward position as regards to prison buildings'. The building called and known by the name of the New Gaol at Goulburn on the current site was proclaimed as a Public Gaol, Prison and House of Correction from 1 July 1884. The gaol also became a place of detention for male prisoners under sentence or transportation. The new gaol increased the capacity of the gaol to 182 separated and 546 associated prisoners. In the year ended 1884 there were a total of 295 prisoners in custody. In 1893 prison labour was used to build an additional 127 cells to Goulburn Gaol, six exercise yards for 'youthful offenders' and a further yard for prisoners awaiting trial. This extension enabled Goulburn gaol to operate on the principle of restricted association which was gradually being adopted throughout the Colony. The following year additional cells were erected for female prisoners. The '7th class' prisoners were moved into the former women's cells thus preventing contact between these young prisoners and serious offenders. Steam cooking facilities were installed and a 70-foot (21 m) chimney was erected, new workshops were planned to create one of the most complete prison complexes in NSW.[4]

The prison was renamed the Goulburn Reformatory in 1928, and became known as the Goulburn Training Centre in 1949. In 1992 the centre was again renamed - Goulburn Correctional Centre.[4]

Initially, Goulburn was one of the principal gaols in NSW. Its early prime focus was upon the first offenders where a program of employment, educational opportunities, physical education in addition to the scheme of restricted association was credited for a relatively low level of re-offending.[4]

In 2015 Goulburn attracted controversy after a prisoner who was housed in the maximum security wing escaped after he cut through a gate at the back of a small secure exercise yard attached to his cell, tied bed sheets together to scale a wall, and put a pillow around his waist to avoid being hurt by razor wire.[5][6] In the same year the Minister for Corrections announced that security would be tightened following a breach when an inmate was caught with a contraband mobile phone that he used to upload pictures and text to a social media website.[7][8]

Opened in 2001 at a cost of A$20 million,[11] the Super Maximum facility is located within the confines of the Goulburn Correctional Centre. Initially called the High-Risk Management Unit (HRMU, also referred to by inmates as HARM-U), it was Australia's first Supermax prison since the closure of the Katingal facility at the Long Bay Correctional Centre in 1978. The facility is the most secure prison within the NSW correctional system, and the inmates are subject to very strict daily regimes, and under intense scrutiny by security. Goulburn HRMCC has received complaints by prisoners, including the lack of natural light and fresh air; access to legal books; the use of isolation and solitary confinement; limited and enclosed exercise; self-mutilation and harsh treatment.[12][13] A 2008 report by the New South Wales Ombudsman explained that there is “no doubt… that the HRMU does not provide a therapeutic environment for these inmates”.[14]

In spite of the security measures inside the HRMCC, in June 2011 it was reported that an unnamed inmate in the Centre had allegedly smuggled a mobile phone into the unit and plotted two kidnappings and a shooting. Criminal charges were laid against the inmate and his alleged co-conspirators.[15]

Convicted of armed robbery, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Only person to ever successfully escape from the death cells, once caught trying to go over the wall to freedom, but succeeded on his second attempt when he escaped in the boot of a car with two girls he had just met at a football game.

Actor and star of Australian sitcom Hey Dad!, sentenced for two counts of sexual assault, seven counts of indecent assault, and one count of committing an indecent act involving girls from 6 to 15 during the 1980s.

Watson, Rhett (9 May 2009). "Inside the walls of SuperMax prison, Goulburn". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 4 January 2012. – a journalist's view on spending time in Goulburn's SuperMax, at the invitation of the Commissioner of Corrective Services.